Biological Model Of Depression

They are popularly referred to as being part of a continuum, the ability to successfully perform in productive activities and relationships, as opposed to the inability to do such things (Mental Illness Overview). Ever since the first edition of the DSM was published in 1952, scientists have studied how a person’s mind relates to their brain and whether the disorders they listed were organic or purely in the mind (Arben). Science has made extraordinary leaps in this aspect, as they have come to discover not only the biological change that causes mental illnesses, but they are also able to pin down even specific chromosomes linked to them. One in particular that has been heavily studied is depression, which is known to be related to a lack of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. Some of the more recently developed medications, known as SSRIs, block the receptors that recycle serotonin from taking in too much and allowing enough to carry proper signals throughout the brain (Johnson). While some people insist on the opinion that drugs such as these are overprescribed (Medications for Mental Illness Are Overprescribed), professionals use tested algorithms when determining whether a patient is in need of medication, and if so what medication to use (Restricting Medications for Mental Illness Harms Patients). These methods have been fine-tuned over the past few decades and are used treat a patient to their own personal needs, and to aid

Clinical Depression is a serious common neurological disorder that can affect anyone from the adolescents to the elderly. Clinical Depression affects the mood, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and symptoms could become severe if left untreated. Clinical Depression is widespread and common, but also misunderstood and we should be well informed on the causes, effects, and treatments of depression.

Major depression is a commonly diagnosed psychological disorder affecting individuals’ ability to feel happiness and peace of mind. Those who suffer experience negative emotions, lack of motivation, changes in behaviour and dysfunctional cognitive symptoms. Depression is classified by the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5) as five of more of the listed symptoms present persistently over the same two weeks. One of these symptoms must be depressed mood or loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities. Depression causes disruption to typical daily life such as inability to maintain friendships and jobs. Other symptoms outlined by the DSM-5 include; insomnia, fatigue and recurrent thoughts of death. There is much debate over what exactly causes depression. Biological explanations question hereditary and neurotransmitter factors. While psychological theories include the cognitive ideas of Beck’s negative triad and hopelessness theory. This essay will focus on the ways in which psychological and biological explanations contrast and how their theories can overlap to better understand depression.

Nothing disturbs me more than when someone tries to describe something as complicated as a mental state with something as simplistic as serotonin levels.

Through my research I wanted to learn about exactly what anti-depressants do chemically . I also wanted to determine what role genetics, heredity, environment, and biological factors play in depression. Though I was not able to answer all of these questions, I learned a lot about depression and even developed some theories of my own. For a long time, I have thought of some forms of depression as a weakness. I truly believed that in many cases it could be controlled by the depressed person themself. I also felt that environmental and personal factors played were the basis for depression. However, through what we have learned in class and from my research, I have come to realize that this theory is not completely true. Mood is a generalized control mechanism like sleep. Eating also exhibits many characteristics of generalized control mechanisms. Mood can be affected by sensory input and the I-function, but it is also autonomous in that it can vary independent of sensory input. This internal variation is pharmacologically dependent. Changes in a persons pharmacological makeup can cause mood changes, sleep disturbances, and even depression. The I-function influences mood manipulation but cannot determine mood. Though you may want to be in a good mood, make a conscious effort to think RhappyS thoughts, and may not have serious stressors in your life, you may still suffer clinical depression as a result of a chemical imbalance in your system. Depression can be physical and

Exploring Psychology, the text book decribe mood disorders such as major depressive disorder as a sickness. Much like how a person would be diagnosed with any other disease. Like Czechs study, It describes how and why our bodies correspond to mental illness and explains how thoughts and feelings can be explained through the biopsychosocial approach. Module 39: Basic Concepts of Psychological Disorders and Mood Disorders, in particular, discusses how different cultures have different stressors, as well as the genetic factors behind why people become depressed. It confirms that depression and schizophrenia are common disorders in many countries globally (Psychology 2013). This article informs readers that depression is a full body disorder and not an imaginary one. It has miserable physical effects and can be treated which chemicals and medication like many other diseases. Most believe that the depressed should simply “get over” their symptoms and move on but many fail to understand some may need extra help

According to the model, “behaviours are illnesses which may be caused by a combination of genetic, biochemical, hormonal factors or a change in the nervous system”. This approach is the most dominant used in the western world today. It is based on medicines and surgery, where prescriptions of drugs such as anti-depressants are used to restore chemical imbalance (serotonin levels). The model is based on hard science, making this a major advantage. The investigation into twins studied by McGuffin et al (1996), to evaluate the importance of genetics in mental illness, suggests it is highly possible there is a genetic component linked to depression in many cases.

(3) While successful drug therapies which act on neurotransmitters in the brain imply that depression is a neurobiological condition (4), the fact that such medications do not help about 20 percent of depression-sufferers seems to show that not all depression is due to such imbalances. Rather, depression is not caused by one single factor; it is most often caused by many different things. Genetics, biochemical factors, medicines and alcohol, developmental and other external factors, and relationships, marriage and children all have effect on the development of clinical depression. (5) The strongest hypotheses on the pathways to depression are in decreases in the activity of specific neurotransmitters, or the overactivity of certain hormonal systems. (3)

They are also similar in that there is limited success with these approaches. The cognitive approach consists of four phases and is very effective in helping people overcome depression. The phases start with increasing the individual’s life activities which elevates their mood, the second phase forces individuals to change their automatic negative thoughts so they will be more positive, the third phase takes the new positive attitude and applies that thinking to the individual’s sense of what is happening in their life, the fourth and final stage is to change the primary attitudes that allowed the depressive behavior to begin (Chapter 7, 2009).

One of the largest trends in neuroscience in the United States today is the usage of a pharmaceutical treatment option for those suffering from depression. While there are a host of other potential treatment options ranging from psychotherapy to electric convulsion therapy (for the most severely depressed patients), anti-depressant medication is far and away the most popular treatment. In fact, in 2011 more than 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 12 was using a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) in order to combat their depression (Krystal, 2011). The medical and psychological community has had a raging debate regarding the efficacy of SSRI’s since they became widely prescribed in the late 1990’s. This paper will summarize

Depression is a mental illness categorized by strong feelings of sadness and cognitive changes that can alter a person’s ability to function normally. While research is still being done on what exactly triggers depression in the brain, a hypothesis on one of the physical causes of feeling depressed is a serotonin imbalance in the brain. Serotonin is a monoamine neurotransmitter that produces the ‘good feelings’ in the brain. Two problems are present in people with depression: either the brain is not producing enough serotonin or the serotonin transporters are retaking the serotonin too

Like dopamine, serotonin also has some physical factors as well, it is known to impact a person’s mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal (Myers & Dewall, 2015). Since serotonin makes us happy, it is obvious how it affects these things, if we’re not happy, we’re going to be in a bad mood, which will affect our eating and sleeping habits, and our arousal because we won’t have much of a sexual drive. Since serotonin make us happy, its easy to imagine that not enough of it would leave us sad. People that are depressed have low levels of serotonin being released and being transferred through out their body compared to non-depressed people (Parsey, et al., 2006). When serotonin isn’t being released enough, or as much as it should be it really affects how happy we are and can put us into serious states of depression. Medications for depression often times are meant to help with releasing more serotonin into the body, giving the depreesed patient more of this “liquid happiness”. Serotonin can also be linked to bulimia and eating disorders. It is thought that dieting and binge eating can result in the decreasing of serotonin in the brain, which could be a reason why patients who are suffering from bulimia nervosa have very low levels of serotonin (Serotonin Function in Bulimia Nervosa, 2004). When we aren’t feeling happy, it could cause us to harm our bodies, even though we don’t realize what we are doing. When our serotonin levels are low, our health is at serious risk. When serotonin levels are low in our body, it causes these mental illnesses. Serotonin is not all to blame, but it certainly plays a role in the development of these

In the present study, the rat model of depression was induced by the daily i.p. injection of reserpine for 15 days. This was followed by monitoring the motor activity to check the development of the rat model of depression. Then the depressed rats were treated with cannabis extract to study its effect on this model.

The severity of depression has been supported through scientific evidence that indicates that depression has a biological basis in the brain of a depressed person along with psychological and social implications. Whilst there are many catalysts in a person’s life that can be identified as a possible root cause of depression, such as stressful life events or the death of a loved one, the issue is far more complex, as the biological triggers of depression are not as easily expressed, such as faulty mood regulation in the brain, vulnerable genetics in the DNA, and other medical problems. Many things are altered in the brain of the depressed person. Firstly, what most understand to be an imbalance in the levels of chemicals that regulate emotions, is in reality far more elaborate. The true issue surrounding the many chemicals involved inside and outside of the nerve cells that undergo numerous chemical reaction which make up the dynamic system that is responsible for mood, perceptions, and the way one experiences life you experiences life can be altered in different ways that affect how one lives. Along with the brains chemicals, the connections between nerve cells called neurons decrease and deteriorate, meaning the

Depression is a typical mood disorders the persons who are under depression stage will face much mental and physical disorder. Now a day’s machines are giving very good result based on human depressions. In such low mood both facial expression and voice of the human being will change when compare to the normal person. Here we are going to present a novel method by using both visual and vocal expression we are going to find the depression level of a human.